Letting Go

 

LETTING GO

 To let go doesn't mean to stop carrying your child’s load, it just means you can't do it for them.

 To let go is not to be in the middle arranging the outcomes, but to allow them to effect their own outcomes.

 To let go is not to deny, but to accept.

 To let go is not to nag, scold, or argue, but to search out our own shortcomings and to correct them.

 To let go is not to cut yourself off, it's the realization that you don't control them.

 To let go is not to enable, but to allow learning from natural consequences.

 To let go is to admit our powerlessness, which means the outcome is not in our hands.

 To let go is not to try and change or blame them, but only change ourselves.

 To let go is not to care for them, but to care about them, not to fix, but be supportive, not to judge but to allow them to be a human being.

 To let go is not to adjust our children to our desires, but to take each day as it comes and cherish each moment.

 To let go is not to criticize and regulate them, but to give them wings to become what they dream they can be.

 To let go is not to regret the past, but to grow in love together and live for the future.

 To let go is to fear less and love more.

 As parents …..To let go .... is to let God!

I Promise

 I can't promise to be here for the rest of your life, but I can promise to love you for the rest of mine. 

I Can Only Hope

 "One lives to hope they become a good memory"

The very breath of God

 

 

She Was Beautiful

 

Suzanne Reynolds
 

SHE WAS BEAUTIFUL....
.... but she didn't know what that meant.
When she was a little girl they told her she was beautiful
but it had no meaning in her world of bicycles and pigtails
and adventures in make-believe.

Later, she hoped she was beautiful  as boys started taking notice
of her friends and phones rang for Saturday night dates.
She felt beautiful on her wedding day,
hopeful with her new life partner by her side

but, later,  when her children called  her beautiful,
she was often exhausted,  her hair messily tied back,
no make up, wide in the waist where it used to be narrow;
she just couldn't take it in.

Over the years, as she tried, in fits and starts, to look beautiful,
she found other things  to take priority, like bills and meals,
as she and her life partner worked hard to make a family,
to make ends meet,to make children into adults,
to make a life.

Now, she sat. Alone.
Her children grown, her partner flown,
and she couldn't remember the last time she was called beautiful.

But she was.
It was in every line on her face, in the strength of her arthritic hands,
the ampleness that had a million hugs imprinted
on its very skin, and in the jiggly thighs and
thickened ankles that had run her race for her.
She had lived her life with a loving and generous heart,
had wrapped her arms around so many to give them comfort and peace.

Her ears had  heard both terrible news
and lovely songs, and her eyes
had brimmed with, oh, so many tears, they were now bright even as they dimmed.

She had lived and she was.

And because she was,
she was made beautiful.
~ Suzanne Reynolds, © 2019

Michael W. Smith - There She Stands 9-11-01 Never Forget

Moses' Rod

“Remember Moses’ Rod….

There are no little people, there are no little places”. 

Courageous Persecution

“Something is wrong when our lives make sense to unbelievers.” - Francis Chan

Transformation

Rainbow Tears

 "The soul would have no rainbow had the eyes no tears"
-John Vance Ceney

Proverbs 3:5-6

In other words...."When I drive my bus I go in the ditch.
When God drives it’s a smooth ride."

To Live In The Hearts.....

        

  "To live in the hearts of those we leave behind is not to die"...Thomas Campbell.

One day I was reading a romance novel on the bleachers of Farmers Oval Park where my friends and I hung out as teens. My friend Mike came and sat next to me and I read him this caption which was written on the beginning page of the book.  I couldn't have known then that he would be killed a year later and this saying would remind me of him for the rest of my life. I even took out an ad in my high school year book with this caption dedicated to him on a special page. The year he was killed he promised to take me to my high school prom. He died 6 months before.... Happy Birthday, my friend. I promised you as I walked away from your grave that I will never forget you. You have not died. As you will always live in my heart.

Soak. It. All. In.

When you first have children they talk about the challenges of parenting...the struggles of a baby waking in the night, the toddler who wont't stay in their bed, the cost of childcare, injuries from sports...

Having to take off work to pick them up from school when they don’t feel well, helping them with homework, a messy house, the never ending laundry, the cost to buy school clothes, packing their lunches....

You watch their eyes light up on Christmas morning....and try to soak in the magic of those moments.

You coach them in sports, rushing to practices and ballgames...and tote them all over the country to let them play the game they love...no matter how exhausting or expensive it becomes.

Life is just so busy that you rarely even stop to think what the end of those days look like.

In fact, it’s not really even something you can wrap your mind around.

You go into it thinking that 18-20 years sounds like a long time....

Then suddenly hours turn into days...days into months...and months into years.

That little person that used to crawl up next to you in bed and cuddle up to watch cartoons...suddenly becomes this young adult who hugs you in the hallway as they come and go.

And the chaos and laughter that used to echo throughout your home....gets filled with silence and solitude.

You’ve learned how to parent a child who needs you to care for and protect them....but have no clue how the whole “letting go” thing is supposed to work.

So you hold on as tight as you can...wondering how time passed so quickly...feeling guilty that you missed something....

Because even though you had 20 years.....it just somehow doesn’t seem like it was enough.

You ask yourself so many questions...

Did you teach them the right lessons?
Did you read them enough books as a child?
Spend enough time playing with them?
How many school parties did you have to miss?
Do they really know how much you love them?
What could I have done better as a parent?

.....When it’s time for them to go, it all hits you like a ton of bricks.

And all you can do is pray....hope....and trust that God will protect them as they start to make their way into the world alone.

Parenting is by far the most amazing experience of your life....that at times leaves you exhilarated....while others leave you heartbroken.

So for all the parents with young children...whose days are spent trying to figure out how to make it through the madness...
Exhausted day in and day out...

Soak. It. All. In.

Because one day....all those crazy days full of cartoons, snuggles, sleep overs, Christmas morning magic, ballgames, practices and late night dinners...

All come to an end.

And you’re left hoping that you did enough right, so that when they spread their wings....But one thing is certain.....it’s never enough time...💕

They’ll fly...💕💕💕
@MistyBrewerLee

Credit to the Amazing Author:

Beneath the Sweater and the Skin

Silver


"How many years of beauty do I have left? she asks me.

How many more do you want?

Here. Here is 34. Here is 50.

When you are 80 years old and your beauty rises in ways
your cells cannot even imagine now,
and your wild bones grow luminous and ripe,
having carried the weight of a passionate life.

When your hair is aflame with winter
and you have decades of learning and leaving and loving
sewn into the corners of your eyes
and your children come home
to find their own history in your face.

When you know what it feels like to fail ferociously
and have gained the capacity
to rise and rise and rise again.

When you can make your tea
on a quiet and ridiculously lonely afternoon
and still have a song in your heart
Queen owl wings beating
beneath the cotton of your sweater.

Because your beauty began there
beneath the sweater and the skin,
remember?

This is when I will take you
into my arms and coo
YOU BRAVE AND GLORIOUS THING
you’ve come so far.

I see you.
Your beauty is breathtaking."

~ Jeannette Encinias

At The Foot of the Cross

At the Foot of the Cross
Fearing the battle was over
And I’d already lost the war,
I was tired of trying and failing.
I just couldn’t fight anymore.
So, dragging my battle-scarred body,
I crawled to the foot of the cross.
And I sobbed. ‘Oh please, Father forgive me.
But I tried…I tried.. and still lost.’
Then the air grew silent around me.
I heard his voice just as clear as the dawn:
‘Oh, My child, though you are tired and weary,
You can’t stop, you have to go on.’
At the foot of the Cross , where I met Him,
At the foot of the Cross, where He died,
I felt love, as I knelt in His presence .
I felt hope, as I looked in His eyes.

Then He gathered me lovingly to Him,
As around us God’s light clearly shone.
And together we walked though my lifetime
To heal every wound I had known.
I found bits of my dreams, long forgotten ,
And pieces of my life on the floor.
But I watched as He tenderly blessed them,
And my life was worth living once more.
I knew then why I had been losing.
I knew why I had not grown.
At the foot of the Cross came the answer:
I’d been fighting the battle alone.

At the foot of the Cross, where I met Him,
At the foot of the Cross, where He died,
Then I knew I could face any challenge
Together–just my Lord and I.
by Marcia Krugh Leaser

Babe- Styx

I went to the record store and bought this 45. I crossed out "Babe" and wrote "Mom" on the cover sleeve and gave it to my mother to play on her phonograph. The year was 1979. Research claims it was released in September of that year but I specifically remember giving it to her while I still lived at home prior to my wedding and I was getting ready to move to Connecticut. That would have made it's release prior to July '79. Either way, every time I hear it I a reminded of my best friend and the hardest goodbye I ever said. 

Church

Church is hard.
Church is hard for the person walking through the doors, afraid of judgement.
Church is hard for the preacher’s family, under the microscope of an entire body.

Church is hard for the prodigal soul returning home, broken and battered by the world.
Church is hard for the girl who looks like she has it all together, but doesn’t.
Church is hard for the couple who fought the entire ride to service.
Church is hard for the single mom, surrounded by couples holding hands, and seemingly perfect families.
Church is hard for the widow and widower with no invitation to lunch after service.
Church is hard for the deacon with an estranged child.
Church is hard for the person singing worship songs, overwhelmed by the weight of the lyrics.
Church is hard for the man insecure in his role as a leader.
Church is hard for the wife who longs to be led by a righteous man.
Church is hard for the nursery volunteer who desperately longs for a baby to love.
Church is hard for the single woman and single man, praying God brings them a mate.
Church is hard for the teenage girl, wearing a scarlet letter, ashamed of her mistakes.
Church is hard for the sinners.
Church is hard for me.
It’s hard because on the outside it all looks shiny and perfect. Sunday best in behavior and dress.
However, underneath those layers, you find a body of imperfect people, carnal souls, selfish motives.
But, here is the beauty of church—
Church isn’t a building, mentality, or expectation.
Church is a body.
Church is a group of sinners, saved by grace, living in fellowship as saints.
Church is a body of believers bound as brothers and sisters by an eternal love.
Church is a holy ground where sinners stand as equals before the Throne of Grace.
Church is a refuge for broken hearts and a training ground for mighty warriors.
Church is a converging of confrontation and invitation. Where sin is confronted and hearts are invited to seek restoration.
Church is a lesson in faith and trust.
Church is a bearer of burdens and a giver of hope.
Church is a family. A family coming together, setting aside differences, forgetting past mistakes, rejoicing in the smallest of victories.
Church, the body, and the circle of sinners-turned-saints, is where He resides, and if we ask, He is faithful to come.
So even on the hard days at church—
The days when I am at odds with a friend, When I’ve walked in bearing burdens heavier than my heart can handle, yet masking the pain with a smile on my face. When I’ve worn the pressures of the world, under the microscope. When I’ve longed for a baby to hold, or fought tears as the lyrics were sung. When I’ve walked back in, afraid and broken, after walking away.
I’ll remember, He has never failed to meet me there.
Adapted from Choosing Freelen, and also at http://www.choosingfreelen.com/ .

Morning Reflection: Give Thanks In All Things

Morning reflection: It's radical, It's joyful, It's calming... giving thanks to God in all things. Every morning, every day as the seasons of my life continue. ........" God asks us to give thanks in everything --- because this is the way you live through anything. … the counting of everyday gifts is a wildly simple way to move our focus beyond burdens of life to the blessings of now. Scavenger hunt every day for God’s glory, His grace gifts — and find more joy — more joy in Him. And count all the ways He loves you — and find yourself Beloved" - "Ann Voskamp".


"In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” Thessalonians 5:18

Morning Reflection: Because God Sees

Morning thoughts: There are many choices in life we must make. We all choose a certain way to act, to speak, to respond , to be. Whether it be with our spouses, our families, friends or co-workers or just by ourselves. For me, in my life, I choose those actions knowing with all certainty that the eyes of God sees everything.  Think about that awesomeness. The eyes of God see everything. This truth has guided me, inspired me, charted my daily course and steered my direction. Am I perfect? No. Do I fail miserably? Yes. Terribly.  But one thought sustains me. I know the eyes of God are loving and forgiving. I wrap myself in the warmth of that knowledge and I go on each day.. And with all certainty, I know I am perfect in His eyes.

Morning Reflection

But I do understand this: my mind is to finite and fallen to understand the God of the universe. This is only logical. If I could understand God, either I would be God, or He would not be.
-Jim Dennison,The Daily Article

How Sweet

How sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a believer’s ear! It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds, and drives away his fear.

John Newton

In My Daughter's Eyes ♡ Martina McBride

                                                           In my daughter's eyes I am a hero
                                                    I am strong and wise and I know no fear

But the truth is plain to see

She was sent to rescue me

I see who I wanna be

In my daughter's eyes

In my daughter's eyes everyone is equal

Darkness turns to light and the

world is at peace

This miracle God gave to me gives me

strength when I am weak

I find reason to believe 

In my daughter's eyes

And when she wraps her hand

around my finger

Oh it puts a smile in my heart

Everything becomes a little clearer

I realize what life is all about

It's hangin' on when your heart

has had enough

It's giving more when you feel like giving up

I've seen the light

It's in my daugter's eyes

In my daughter's eyes I can see the future

A reflection of who I am and what will be

Though she'll grow and someday leave

Maybe raise a family

When I'm gone I hope you see how happy

she made me

For I'll be there

In my daughter's eyes

Stand

If I stand for the grace that I've known, For what I believe
Then I won't stand alone, No I won't stand alone.....


 With visible breath, I'm calling your name
With visible tracks, I'm finding my way
With a sorrowful heart, I honor this pain
And offer these tears to the rain
In a moment of truth at the top of the hill
I open my arms and let go of my will

And stand with my face to the wind
With the storm beating down on this sacred ground
If I stand for the grace that I've known
For what I believe
Then I won't stand alone
No I won't stand alone
There's a new pair of eyes to embrace all I see
A new peace of mind and it comes quietly
There's a joy in my heart that you've given to me
And I offer this soul's melody
So I beat on my chest till my song has been sung
And I cry like a wolf at the top of my lungs
And stand with my face to the wind
With the storm beating down on this sacred ground
If I stand for the grace that I've known
For what I believe
Then I won't stand alone
No I won't stand alone
When the thundering voices of doubt try to shake my faith, oh
I'll be listening from inside out and I won't be afraid to
Stand with my face to the wind
With the storm beating down on this sacred ground
If I stand for the grace that I've known
For what I believe
Then I won't stand alone
No I won't stand...I won't stand alone